Mary Bortz Truby

Mary "Polly" Bortz Truby
born:  about 1833 - Pennsylvania
died:  17 Apr 1900 - Oil City, Venango County, Pennsylvania

The wife of David Truby, and mother of John Calvin Truby, was Mary Truby.  Polly was a very common nickname for women named Mary in the 1800's. 

Tracking down her maiden name was quite a puzzle in the beginning of my research back in the 1980's.  However, as more and more information has become available, I have been able to determine that Mary's maiden name was Bortz (sometimes spelled Borts). 

The Venango Co death record index shows that her father's name was George Borts and I estimate his date of birth to be somewhere around 1808.  Again, because the census did not list all members of the household prior to 1850 (when Mary was already married to David), I have been unable to place Mary in a household with her parents thereby verifying this information.

When definitive documentation is not present, you need to analyze all of the available documents and form an opinion based upon the preponderance of the evidence.  Using as many death certificates as I could find for David and Mary's children, I believe that Mary's maiden name was in fact Bortz:

death certificate of Henrietta Kane - Polly Boarts (informant - sister, Mary Gordon)
death certificate of Mary Gordon - Polly Stover (informant - son, Clyde Gordon)
death certificate of Julia Ellen Mahaffy - Mary Stewart (informant - son, T E Mahaffy)
death certificate of Clara McCollum - Mary Bortz (informant - husband, Geo B McCollum)
death certificate of Annie Thompson - Mary Bortz (informant - husband, John Thompson)
death certificate of Sarah Downing - Sarah Truby (informant - son, Merret Downing)
death certificate of John Truby - unknown (informant - State Hospital)

 

When analyzing this, you need to consider who provided the information.  In other words, the people closest in time to Mary would be the ones who would provide the most accurate information.  In this case, Mary Gordon was herself a daughter of Mary Truby and would stand a better chance of correctly knowing her mother's maiden name than her son, Clyde Gordon.  The husbands of Clara and Annie are more likely to know the correct maiden name of Mary than Sarah's son, Merret.  And, the information provided for Mary's death record would have been provided by one of her children who most likely would have actually known their grandfather.

 

Little is known of Mary's life other than what is shown in the censuses.  Some time after David's death about 1882, Mary moved into an apartment in Oil City.  Most likely her daughters, Anna and Etta, would have wanted their mother closer to be better able to care for her.  Clara, who was single, lived with her mother.

 

This photo of Mary's residence at No 12 Oak Street was taken in 1999.  The building was more than 100 years old at the time and would have been much nicer when Mary lived there in 1900.  It contained four apartments and hers was the one closest to the camera in the right hand corner of the building.  She would have had her own entrance, porch and an upstairs.  Since this photo was taken the building has been torn down and when I was there in 2005 it was a vacant lot.  The house stood high on a hill, and as a reference point, in the photo below, it was located two blocks to the right of the church with the double steeples. 

Oil City is divided by the Allegheny River.  Mary lived on the north side.  The photo below was taken from the parking lot of the church and looks over to the south side of the river which is the view Mary would have had from the back side of her apartment.

Mary died on Apr 17, 1900 at the age of 67.  It appears she had suffered a stroke.  She is buried at Fertigs Cemetery (which was previously known as Centreville Cemetery).



                              published in the Oil City Derrick on Apr 17, 1900

 published in the Oil City Derrick on Apr 18, 1900